1. Field
This invention relates to a land vehicle and aircraft combination.
2. Prior Art
Numerous designs for combination land and air vehicles have been devised. A typical design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,430,869 and 2,532,195 to Fulton in which an air frame is attached to the rear of a vehicle. A single engine is shared to power the aircraft and the land vehicle. The combination craft of Fulton has numerous critical connections between the land vehicle and the aircraft to operate in-flight control of the aircraft. The plane wheels serve also as the car wheels and must be steerable and drivable. The land vehicle is suspended from the aircraft, which would dictate reinforcement of the roof and roof supports of the land vehicle. The propeller requires detachment before the land vehicle can be readily used.
A combined aircraft and automobile design is further disclosed in several patents to Hall, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,562,491; 2,562,492; 2,619,301; and 2,619,184 in which the aircraft has a separate engine from the land vehicle and attaches to the top of the vehicle. The wheels of the vehicle are used for landing gear of the aircraft. A similar design is disclosed in Nye et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,593,785.
Other patents disclosing various combination aircraft land vehicle assemblies include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,767,939; 2,626,530; 3,645,474; Re. 25,368; 2,215,003; 2,713,465; 2,573,271; 2,770,427; 2,430,869; 3,017,137; 3,371,886; 2,410,234; 4,173,321; 4,171,784; 4,165,846.